Ramdev lobbies for govt nod for vedic education board

Yoga guru is looking at spreading vedic education to every district of the country.

Baba Ramdev at his ashram in Haridwar (Anupam Trivedi/Hindustan Times)

Once snubbed by the HRD ministry over his proposed vedic education board, yoga guru Ramdev is making a fresh pitch, claiming he has the support of the Prime Minister and BJP president for his project.

“Prime minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and the NDA government are serious for such a vedic educational board and we are hopeful we will soon get approval,” he told Hindustan Times.

Ramdev is looking at spreading vedic education to every district of the country. A few months back Ramdev’s trust moved an application to the then HRD minister Smriti Irani seeking recognition for vedic education board. Irani turned down the application on the ground that the government’s sanction for a private board would open the doors for similar requests from other unrecognised school boards. No private board is currently recognised by the Centre.

School education secretary S C Khuntia had also stuck to a similar line.

Earlier this month, Ramdev’s aide Balkrishna met HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar and Khuntia to revive the proposal to establish a national board that would allow affiliated schools to offer a blend of the traditional gurukul system and modern curriculum.

Ramdev is hopeful of hopeful of getting the permission this time “since PM supports idea of vedic education”.

Also on his wish list are 500 Acharyakulam’s (traditional schools imparting education) that he wants to open across the country.

And while his Patanjali business empire continues to expand, Ramdev also aims to bring yoga to the spotlight. For this, he wants to conduct 10 lakh yoga classes from the current one lakh classes.

“We have battery of part time and full time Patanjali colleagues who will conduct 10 lakh classes in next 5 years” Ramdev said when asked if he is still focused on yoga.